Invented by Louis Braille at the age of 15, the idea came from a soldier who had served in the Napoleonic army in Poland and had attempted to devise a system that could, with night-time manoeuvres, allow messages to be sent and instructions to be passed from hand to hand.

It didn’t work, because the system was too complex and the soldiers didn’t get it. Not surprisingly, because to read Braille without being able to see you need to develop sensitive finger ends.

I was hoping for some explanation of how the Braille system was different from the Napoleonic soldier’s alphabet that made this one easier to understand…. I have never been able to understand the patters involved, and so I’ve never been able to read Braille. Not that I ablsolutely have to, knock on wood.